Question regarding charging to room before checking in to second resort..

[bcbmommy]

I hope I'm wording this correctly. Since we are staying at a cheaper resort for our first night, do we need to physically go to the resort that we're going to be staying in for the rest of the week before we can go to the parks and charge to our room (the next morning)? We did this once many years ago (stayed at AoA one night, then BC the rest), but I can't remember the details of how it worked.

 

[WinterSolider]

Did you buy a package or room and tickets separately?

If you bought your tickets separately, they'll definitely work with no hiccups. If you bought a package, it SHOULD still work but there's a change that you get a blue ring and they have to fix you at the park entrance.

I would not count on room charges working properly.

 

[bcbmommy]

Did you buy a package or room and tickets separately?

If you bought your tickets separately, they'll definitely work with no hiccups. If you bought a package, it SHOULD still work but there's a change that you get a blue ring and they have to fix you at the park entrance.

I would not count on room charges working properly.

Okay, thank you. We have a room only reservation and are buying tickets separately.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I would not anticipate any problems. Often Guests cannot access rooms until later in the day. As long as you have done online check-in for both resorts, I would not anticipate any challenges.

 

[_19disnA]

Although it was a few years ago, we had a room only reservation and purchased the park tickets separately and charging worked fine. You need to have a credit card on file with Disney to enable the charging. I would call Disney prior to your trip and make sure things are setup correctly.

 

[CarolynFH]

When online checkin first started, we were advised to go by the front desk of the first resort as we were leaving in the morning and make sure that we were checked out of that resort, so the system could check us into the second resort. We haven’t done a split stay for a while now, so I’m not sure that’s still necessary, but it couldn’t hurt.

 

[WinterSolider]

Although it was a few years ago, we had a room only reservation and purchased the park tickets separately and charging worked fine. You need to have a credit card on file with Disney to enable the charging. I would call Disney prior to your trip and make sure things are setup correctly.

The (potential) issue isn't checking into the new resort, it's whether they properly fully checked you out of the first resort.

 

[kes601]

When online checkin first started, we were advised to go by the front desk of the first resort as we were leaving in the morning and make sure that we were checked out of that resort, so the system could check us into the second resort. We haven’t done a split stay for a while now, so I’m not sure that’s still necessary, but it couldn’t hurt.

We do this every time we have a split stay -- even if splitting at the same resort in different room types. It seems to help things go more smoothly. Plus it makes it more likely you may get into resort #2 more quickly.

 

[RuntheMouse]

We do this every time we have a split stay -- even if splitting at the same resort in different room types. It seems to help things go more smoothly. Plus it makes it more likely you may get into resort #2 more quickly.

Same for us. If MDE doesn’t let me check out, we visit the front desk. The last few times I have almost immediately started getting texts about our room status for the next property. I always like to let Mickey know I’m here so they know we’re waiting on our room and not in transit!

As for the room charges, I’ve never had an issue switching over. Sometimes the charges stay on the first resort’s bill but more often than not, they end up on the new resort’s bill. Either way, never been double charged.

 

[Headless]

Go to the front desk but do it the night before you leave. I've just done it this was every time, squared up the bill and then the next morning I check in at the new resort at the front desk first thing in the morning, setup the CC for the magic band and leave luggage so we can grab it when the room is ready. Just know you can't use park transportation for this. uber/lyft is your best bet and honestly should not be expensive at all. I tend to be all done with this whole process and still get to my chosen park for rope drop.

I say the night before because while we put down our CC I budget for spending by buying gift cards throughout the year and will pay off the room charges with that. If you try to do it the morning you are leaving they will already have charged the room to your CC. the charges happen like 2-3am. If you are good with it right on your CC then you can just be on your marry way.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I say the night before because while we put down our CC I budget for spending by buying gift cards throughout the year and will pay off the room charges with that. If you try to do it the morning you are leaving they will already have charged the room to your CC. the charges happen like 2-3am. If you are good with it right on your CC then you can just be on your marry way.

And if you forget the night before they can still reverse the CC charge in the morning and use your gc, it just take a bit more time and you have to wait for the cc to get refunded which can take up to a week.

 

[gottalovepluto]

You do not need to physically go to the resort the next morning but you do need to complete on-line check in including your credit card info for charging. Even after check-out you can continue to charge to your room for the remainder of the day, Disney just settles the folio again at the end of the night.

Do you need to make sure charges go to your new resort? That's been a slippery slope for me. To try that go to the front desk of the cheap resort to check-out in person, inform them you are switching resorts and want this reservation closed out so your charges for the day go on your new resort folio. Alas, even after all that sometimes the charges still went to the old resort for the day so I switched to just using my gift cards for purchases on resort switch day.

 

[bcbmommy]

Thank you all for your help! I feel better now knowing what to expect!

 

[hes122]

The (potential) issue isn't checking into the new resort, it's whether they properly fully checked you out of the first resort.

This is what I was just coming in to say.

 

[bcbmommy]

You do not need to physically go to the resort the next morning but you do need to complete on-line check in including your credit card info for charging. Even after check-out you can continue to charge to your room for the remainder of the day, Disney just settles the folio again at the end of the night.

Do you need to make sure charges go to your new resort? That's been a slippery slope for me. To try that go to the front desk of the cheap resort to check-out in person, inform them you are switching resorts and want this reservation closed out so your charges for the day go on your new resort folio. Alas, even after all that sometimes the charges still went to the old resort for the day so I switched to just using my gift cards for purchases on resort switch day.

This has me thinking.... So even if we do online check-in now (8 days before we're there), will we not really be checked in until we check out of our cheap resort? If that's the case, I just wonder if I should spend the $$$ to stay at our main resort that first night too. I haven't even booked our first night yet, because I'm so confused where to stay. Leaning heavily toward Swan/Dolphin since it's so close to our resort, BWI.

 

[gottalovepluto]

This has me thinking.... So even if we do online check-in now (8 days before we're there), will we not really be checked in until we check out of our cheap resort? If that's the case, I just wonder if I should spend the $$$ to stay at our main resort that first night too. I haven't even booked our first night yet, because I'm so confused where to stay. Leaning heavily toward Swan/Dolphin since it's so close to our resort, BWI.

You will be checked in. You can be checked into both resorts at the same time and it won’t make any difference as to when your room will be ready if that’s your concern. If you don’t care about being roomless for the afternoon I really don’t see the point in a paying a lot of money for the first night.

 

[eticketplease]

Sometimes the charges stay on the first resort’s bill but more often than not, they end up on the new resort’s bill. Either way, never been double charged.

This happened to me one time at OKW.

It was technically a split stay as we booked last minute.
We had 3 nights on points, followed by 1 night on cash followed by 3 nights on points.
We were staying in the same room the entire time and had checked out and back in but then our Olivia's bill showed up on my cash stay portfolio and charged to my credit card.
I was very surprised as I always go to the front desk the night of checkout and wipe out my balance with a gift card which I had done and no new charges had been made before we had checked out.
OKW was able to fix it though with no issues of refunding my CC and using the gift card to pay for it.

I'm not sure if the issue was mixing cash vs points as I haven't a problem other times when doing a split stay using points only.

 

[bcbmommy]

You will be checked in. You can be checked into both resorts at the same time and it won’t make any difference as to when your room will be ready if that’s your concern. If you don’t care about being roomless for the afternoon I really don’t see the point in a paying a lot of money for the first night.

Okay, that eases my mind a bit. If some of us are using old magic bands, will they automatically work even if we don't check in to BWI until later that day? Or should we stop by first?

 

[eticketplease]

Okay, that eases my mind a bit. If some of us are using old magic bands, will they automatically work even if we don't check in to BWI until later that day? Or should we stop by first?

As long as the bands are still active in MDE you should not have any issues.

 

[bcbmommy]

As long as the bands are still active in MDE you should not have any issues.

Wonderful! Thank you!! If for some reason they don't work when we get to the parks, will it work showing them my tickets in my MDE account?